With the Lord, ‘a day’ can mean a thousand years, and a thousand years is like a day. The Lord is not being slow to carry out his promises, as anybody else might be called slow; but he is being patient with you all, wanting nobody to be lost and everybody to be brought to change his ways.

Short Responsory

Come to us and save us, Lord God almighty.

– Come to us and save us, Lord God almighty.

Let your face smile on us and we shall be safe.

– Come to us and save us, Lord God almighty.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.

– Come to us and save us, Lord God almighty.

Canticle

Magnificat

My soul rejoices in the Lord

Joyfully you will draw water from the wells of salvation.

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,

and my spirit rejoices in God, my salvation.

For he has shown me such favour –

me, his lowly handmaiden.

Now all generations will call me blessed,

because the mighty one has done great things for me.

His name is holy,

his mercy lasts for generation after generation

for those who revere him.

He has put forth his strength:

he has scattered the proud and conceited,

torn princes from their thrones;

but lifted up the lowly.

He has filled the hungry with good things;

the rich he has sent away empty.

He has come to the help of his servant Israel,

he has remembered his mercy as he promised to our fathers,

to Abraham and his children for ever.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,

as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,

world without end.

Amen.

Joyfully you will draw water from the wells of salvation.

Prayers and intercessions

The Lord God said: ‘I shall look for the lost one, bring back the stray, bandage the wounded and make the weak strong,’

– Lord our God, come to save us.

Lord God, you made us and sustain us with your love:

help us to recognize that you are in our midst.

– Lord our God, come to save us.

You are close to each one of us:

open our hearts to love you.

– Lord our God, come to save us.

We pray for those who find their lives a burden too heavy to bear:

Lord, be their strength and their hope.

– Lord our God, come to save us.

You are Life, and the enemy of death:

rescue us and all the faithful departed from eternal darkness.

– Lord our God, come to save us.

Our Father, who art in heaven,

hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come.

Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread,

and forgive us our trespasses,

as we forgive those who trespass against us,

and lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.

Lord, keep us ever alert and watchful

as we await the coming of your Son,

so that, faithful to his teaching,

we may hasten to meet our Saviour with lamps alight.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever.

The Lord bless us, and keep us from all evil, and bring us to everlasting life.

AMEN

The psalms and canticles here are our own translation. The Grail translation of the psalms, which is used liturgically in most of the English-speaking world, cannot be displayed on the Web for copyright reasons. The Universalis apps, programs and downloads do contain the Grail translation of the psalms.